- GBP/JPY remains bid following upbeat UK data, risk-on.
- Markets cheer optimism showed by the US diplomats.
- The recent doubts over further stimulus, downbeat coronavirus data fails to disappoint the bulls.
- UK PM Johnson in ICU, foreign-made ventilators in demand, British data-dump awaited.
Despite witnessing the coronavirus-led drawbacks at home, GBP/JPY remains on the front foot while taking the bids to 135.30, up 0.40%, amid the Asian session on Thursday. The pair seems to cheer the US President Donald Trump’s upbeat remarks to portray the risk-on while paying a little heed to the coronavirus (COVID-19) updates.
With US President Donald Trump’s repeated push for restoration economic activities in a phased manner, coupled with updates on trails to find the pandemic’s cure, the market’s risk-tone extended the previous positive sentiment.
That said, the US 10-year Treasury yields and stock futures are on the positive side whereas Japan’s NIKKEI drops 0.30% to 19,300 by the press time.
While the UK PM Boris Johnson is told to be stable inside the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the surge in the nation’s virus data as well as expected lack of ventilators at home, as per The Guardian, signal pessimism at home.
It should also be noted that the recently downbeat comments from the BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, citing economic uncertainty and readiness to add easing, further fuelled the pair to the north.
Moving on, the February month data-dump comprising Manufacturing Production, Industrial Production and monthly GDP figures from the UK will offer intermediate clues whereas virus updates will be the key.
Technical analysis
An area comprising the early-March low and 50-day SMA near 137.00-137.15 will question the pair’s further upside. On the contrary, a three-week-old rising trend line, at 134.27 now, restricts the pair’s near-term declines.
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